How are the Inauguration and Martin Luther King Day related to real estate news? President Obama has just been inaugurated to his second term.  We just passed Martin Luther King Day, a day when the nation takes pause to remember a man who said once’ “I have a dream.”

But what do these two momentous events have to do with real estate? The “dream” of home ownership has been threatened during the last few years after the bubble broke back in 2008. Low property values combined with high unemployment rates made for a frustrating combination for anyone looking to buy a house.

With Fiscal Cliff legislation looming – and it’s implications of higher taxes – the question on the minds of many people interested real estate news is “With all the changes we are facing as a nation, what does the future hold for real estate?”

Well, as we noted earlier, today is Martin Luther King Day, and we need to look to the teachings of Dr. King to gain some perspective on the nature of progress.

“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal … requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.

So, we find ourselves in a time when progress seems difficult, just when the real estate industry was starting to find its footing. We need to focus our energies on ensuring that the progress we have made in the last year in the real estate industry does not fall flat due to a few more hurdles impeding our path towards real estate stabilization.

President Obama’s inauguration speech also spoke to the turmoil we are currently facing.

“This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together.”

So, the theme of the day continues. We, as a nation, need to see the hurdles we are facing and work together to use the ingenuity that made this country strong as a tool to find the answers we seek. It is vital that the real estate industry maintains its balance through these changes to ensure a stable economy in time. It is also necessary that real estate professionals work together with their clients to find solutions to get families into their home so they can fulfill their “dream” of home ownership.